Scruffy’s Story

Stray Cat’s Prayer

“Dear God, please send me somebody who’ll care!
I’m so tired of running and sick with despair.
My body is aching and filled with such pain;
And dear God I pray, as I run in the rain
That someone will love me and give me a home,
A warm cozy bed, and food of my own….”

Sometimes in life, it’s important to do what’s morally right, even though you know it’s not the most logical thing to do. This is most certainly true, when you knowingly invite a feral cat into your yard. If you’ve read“Our Story”,then you know that our two cats are in fact…rescued feral cats. We acquired them at such a young age (4 weeks old), that we became their mother and father. This is not the case with Scruffy.

Scruffy

Scruffy is your typical neighborhood feral cat.

Dirty, dull, beat up coat, wary of humans, and rail thin…and just plain…. scruffy looking. So we called him… Scruffy (naturally).

He started wandering into our yard, about six months ago. At first he would slowly roam around the perimeter of our yard, trying to blend into every bush and tree. Then, he started to linger. Our cats (Spike and Domino) stared at him through the windows, but he seemed to pay them no mind. He was starving and looking for food. One day during feeding time(…our cats make quite a bit of noise), I looked out on the patio….and saw the saddest eyes I had ever seen.

Scruffy was staring in our window, watching our cats eat until they were full….as he sat outside….starving. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. Not only does he look just like our cat Domino (see our picture page), but I knew the reality of his (Scruffy’s) life. Without any intervention, Scruffy would live just a short while longer. He would be hit by a car, die of an illness…or simply starve to death. I thought, “There by the grace of God, go I…or my cats”. Our cats would have had the same life as Scruffy …if we didn’t rescue them….

….So I started feeding him.

Dinner time for our cats is around 4:30 or so…(if they can hold out that long). After feeding our two cats, I take a handful of dry cat food, and place it on a stone outside (Scruffy doesn’t like to use a bowl, yet). He is usually waiting patiently and quietly, underneath a bush….by early afternoon (I can’t say the same for our cats). After we put his food down…he slowly and cautiously creeps over to start eating. (see the video…..).

I can’t tell you how much happiness this brings to our family (cats excluded….I don’t think they’re too thrilled), to see him eat. I can also tell you how this made it impossible for us to allow our cats outside, on our patio, anymore,,,(until we installed our Catbitat)! [Note: Scruffy gets along fine with Domino and Spike while they are outside…protected within our Catbitat. As a matter of fact…. Scruffy pays them no attention, whatsoever].

As I said, I cannot say bringing Scruffy into our lives was the most logical thing to do….but I will say it was the most moral thing to do. Scruffy has probably (and will probably), never be touched by a human hand, in his lifetime. He will probably never be rubbed, scratched or petted…he will probably never know our fondness or love for him. But he will not go hungry, as long as we can help it….

…and that’s something.

UPDATE!!! Scruffy’s a FEMALE…and had a litter in the same place we found Spike and Domino! See Video’s below!